Homily for the week of February 6, 2011

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2011

Isaiah 58:7-10

Psalm 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Matthew 5:13-16

Each time you come to Mass, as you are right now, you hear me read a part of the Bible known as the Gospel. The Gospel is a small section of the what Jesus would tell us if he was standing here in my place. And as you listen to Jesus you realize that he uses examples that are down to earth.

Today he talks about salt. Life itself depends on salt. Salt is necessary for the survival of every living being. Our saliva, which comes from the word for salt, is about 9% salt. The proper functioning of our nervous system depends on salt — sodium. Those who do tough physical exercise like wrestlers and joggers must be careful that their bodies don't get low on salt. In our health conscious society salt gets a bad rap because of its association with heart disease and blood pressure. Fast food places like MacDonalds and Burgher King now tell you how much salt or sodium there is their food. All food labels tell you the sodium content. Food without salt is not very tasty. Life itself depends on salt.

Table salt was not used at the time of Jesus. Because salt was a necessity years ago workers were paid with a number of portions of salt from which we get the term salary. Salt was rubbed on a newborn. Today tons of salt are used on roads to melt the snow and ice.

Despite this, we take salt for granted. It is readily available to us, and at least in the Western world it is inexpensive. Throughout history though, and still in many parts of the world, salt was difficult to obtain and was very expensive. Some ancient economies used salt as their currency. This is how we get the saying, “to be worth his salt”. Today if we say someone is “the salt of the earth,” we understand that person to be solid and dependable, someone who can be counted on through thick and thin. But when Jesus said to his disciples that they were the salt of the earth, they might have understood the expression in light of the Bible.

Jesus’ reference to salt today, however, is not exclusively about salt as part of our diet or about enhancing the flavor of food. His clear meaning — that His followers are to spread His teachings throughout the world and not grow weary in their efforts — most likely also refers to the salt used in outdoor, earthen ovens that were common in that day. For fuel, people burned dung from their animals, and for dung to burn, it must be salted. When the salt plates used to facilitate burning were no longer effective, they were thrown out into the street, which served as both sewer and a place for trash, so therefore they were “trampled underfoot.”

Salt was also important for religious functions in the synagogue. Blending salt with incense kept the fragrant powder pure. Years ago salt was put on and infant's tongue as part of the baptismal ritual as a symbol of everlasting life. Another way in which salt was used was to sprinkle salt on the first page of contract or agreement to symbolized the lasting nature of the agreement.

Finally, different kinds of salts are necessary for the soil to be fruitful, but soil that is “nothing but sulphur and salt” is a desert wasteland. As a symbol of permanent destruction, conquerors would spread salt on a city they had burned. As Jesus called his disciples “salt,” they may have understood any of these meanings: they season and purify the world with God’s love, giving witness to divine fidelity that preserves life for all eternity.

When salt is used in food or for chemical processes, it loses its separate identity. We know what salt tastes like, but as seasoning its specific taste can be very hard to detect. If salt can be tasted in food too much salt was used. The real value of the salt is how it affects other things. It enhances the flavor of food, as a preservative it prevents certain chemical decay, and it can serve as a catalyst in chemical reactions helping one substance react with another.

Today Jesus uses both the image of salt and the image of light to tell us how we are to live and act as His followers. Just as you don't turn on a light just to turn it off again, so Jesus is telling us that we his followers must not stop being a light to others who might be in darkness. Although there are many times in our life when temptations and struggles to be good may threaten to dilute our “saltiness” or dim our light, nothing is ever able to take away our capacity to illumine God’s love for others.

Like salt we are not called to smother others with our Christianity. But, like salt, we are asked by Jesus to permeate society with his message and to add zest to the lives of others whose salt may have gone flat, or who have not yet found the salt of spirituality. But we are also called to leave no trace of ourselves. We are called to produce the little deed, the unnoticed presence, the unassuming influence. We are invited by Jesus to restored the flavor.

The same kind of example with wide impact is wrapped up in the example of light. Scientifically, light is more complicated than salt. To understand light involves such concepts as wave and radiation. We are left to ponder how light can travel at the speed of 186,282 miles per second. For example, as tiny as a candle might be, when placed in a room it fills the room with its presence. Also, we don't try to hide a light which we have turned on. But we place it so that it allows us to see.

You and I were first invited to be a light to others at Baptism. We were given a candle lighted from the Easter candle -- the symbol of spiritual life and resurrection -- and our parents and/or godparents were asked to hold it for us. The Resurrection candle is placed in front of the casket at a funeral in order to remind us that this person who has died was blessed with the light of Jesus, and has now resurrected with Jesus to everlasting life. We light candles at the altar as a symbol of the light of Jesus. However, one isolated candle does not light a community, but it might encourage others to place their light on the table.

Jesus was a carpenter, not a chemist or scientist. Yet by using such simple examples as salt and light, he was telling us how important it is for us to live, work and pray together. One little grain of salt can do nothing by itself. It can only be effective when it joins with grains of salt.